If you haven't yet heard about Apple's announcements at today's Apple 'Educational Event', watch the keynote here. The focus of the talk is what they call interactive textbooks for the iPad - but these 'textbooks' are more sophisticated than a lot of basic eLearning, allowing for video, images and even quiz questions. The FREE tool they have launched to build iBooks, iBooks Author, appears to be easy to use, especially if you're familiar with the iWork tools like Keynote and Pages. Have some content in a Word doc? Just drag and drop into iBooks Author and it will build a book based on the styles in the doc. Drop in pictures, video, even HTML 5/Javascript widgets. Publish very simply to iBooks and share. And this is just the tip of the iceberg - there are so many cool features like note taking, glossary, study cards and more.

It's easy to see how this is a game changer not just for K-12 and university students, but also the world of adult learning. The focus might be on kids right now, but there is so much potential for application in the workplace, especially as iPads gain more traction in the business world. It will be interesting to see what the future holds for iBooks and iBooks Author - I can't wait to try it out!

Limestone Learning is a courseware development company located in Vancouver, BC working with clients across Canada, the US and worldwide. We offer end-to-end services for the development of training programs, as well as instructional design, project management and training support. We can help you bring your e-learning, instructor-led, self-study or blended training solution to life.